Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements in baseball practice batting tee. More particularly, the present baseball practice batting tee allows a person to practice hitting a baseball without the ball being “pitched” to them. The baseball practice batting tee elevates and holds the baseball at the elevated position where it can be struck with a bat.
Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
A batting tee allows a person to practice hitting a baseball or similar object with a bat, stick or club. The ball is held at a fixed elevation above the ground where a batter can practice striking the ball. While the elevation can be adjusted, the elevation above the ground provides a fairly consistent position whereby a person can practice hitting and adjusting their swing without the inconsistencies of the ball being thrown to them.
Simple ball practice mechanism can range from a ball suspended from a string or a pipe or spring that rises from the ground. A number of patents and or publications have been made to address these issues. Exemplary examples of patents and or publication that try to address this/these problem(s) are identified and discussed below.
One of earliest batting Tees is found in U.S. Pat. No. 1,242,046 that issued on Oct. 2, 1917. This patent is for a Base Ball Game where an adjustable Tee is used with a baseball and the object of the game is to bat the baseball from the Tee through targets. While this patent discloses a batting Tee it is secured to a game and is not portable.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,109,844 issued on Feb. 7, 2012 to Thomas A. Quinn discloses a Ball Tee for Batting Practice. The ball Tee has a ball receiver on an upper tube that is secured to a vertically adjustable middle tube that is adjustable with detents on a lower tube on a flexible base. When a ball is struck, the upper tube and the base bends to absorb the impact allow the ball to travel. While this patent provides a batting Tee, the flexing of the base allows the batting Tee to move as each ball is struck.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,050,516 issued on Jun. 9, 2015 for Allen Holland et al., discloses a Spring-Back Ball Tee for Batting Practice. The ball tee for batting practice has a base assembly including a base, a post cup pivotally attached to the base, and at least one spring biasing the post cup into an upright position. The entire upright portion of bends on the base to release ball as opposed to the base staying stationary and just the top flexing.
What is needed is a baseball practice batting tee that is easily adjusted for height and the top portion of the tee rotates to reduce stresses at a single side of the top of the tee. The baseball practice batting tee proposed in this document provides the solution.